Children
by Lisa Jane
Summary: It was only as an adult that Amy realised that the girls hadn’t had a childhood, and realised how quickly they had been forced to grow up.


**Children**

_Enjoy my first whack at writing a Sailor Moon story – I'm surprised that I haven't written one earlier. Serena/Malachite, NA names, alternate universe (obviously by the pairing), one-shot, rated for a little swearing. Reviews are much appreciated and will be rewarded by a review for you, too._

_I own no one but Claire and Celia._

*

It was only as an adult that Amy realised that the girls hadn't had a childhood, and realised how quickly they had been forced to grow up.

She realised this when Serena appeared on her doorstep in the mornings, clutching her daughter's hand, to pick up Amy's own daughter as well and walk them to the nearby kindergarten. Amy would watch the three head down the street, before going off to work for the day, or if she didn't have a shift at the hospital, await Serena's return.

She realised this when on these days, Serena and Amy would spend the afternoon eating ice-cream in front of the idiot box, eating it with spoons straight out of the tub, effectively ruining any appetite of their own but forcing dinner down their girls' thoughts.

And she realised it when she and her daughter would spend evenings at Serena's house across the street, with pizza for dinner and playing the millionth version of Sailor V. Then they would eventually fall asleep on the couches, and then wake in the morning to find the game switched off, their girls asleep upstairs in Celia's bed, and herself and Serena still sprawled across the living room, under blankets that Malachite had placed on them at whatever absurd hour he had arrived home.

Their daughters would have a childhood, of that Amy could be certain. But at times like those, she wondered where hers and Serena's had disappeared to.

The war and the fighting had ended over a decade ago now, and Tokyo had been left in peace by the last lot of frightening villains, who had for unknown reasons decided to turn on each other instead. The Scouts had been originally uncertain for some time after there was anything left to fight, and for weeks and months they still remained on edge. But time moved on, when they realised that they hadn't needed to transform in those months, and as they moved into their final year of high school, they didn't have any distractions away from their studies (yet, Serena still only just managed to scrape together a passing grade).

And it was an excellent thing that Molly's 18th birthday was at the end of the school year, otherwise Amy was certain that Serena would have just failed the final year altogether, with a particular male distraction.

The ex-Scouts had been bewildered to see Nephrite and Malachite arrive at the party of mostly teenage girls, Nephrite seemingly pleased to be there and Malachite appearing as if he'd been dragged there by his pretty-boy hair. Their appearence suddenly explained Molly's cheerfulness over the past couple of months, as she had received a call from Nephrite out of the blue, a man she had long believed dead (she had much earlier moved on from Melvin, eventually realising what the girls had agreed on a long time ago – he was just too _weird_). Upon the pressing of information, the men had finally admitted that they were here permanently on Earth and that they came in peace – yes, Beryl was well and truly gone; no, they didn't know where Jedite was because while he'd left the Negaverse with them, he didn't arrive in Japan with them and yes, Zoycite was living with Malachite and sent along her best insincere birthday wishes to Molly but flat-out refused to spend any time with the 'Sailor brats'.

Some things hadn't changed.

But some things had. Like the way Malachite had studied Serena with interest, a Serena who had grown up from a fourteen-year-old brat to an eighteen-year-old young lady, who no longer wore her hair in meatballs but as a long, loose plait, with an adult body and a pretty face to match, who still tripped over her own feet and was addicted to video games and ate too much sugary food than what had to be good for anyone, but who seemed flattered by Malachite's advances.

And Amy had decided to announce to Serena that it was time to go and had dragged her out the front door and halfway down the street.

"_What are you doing?" Serena had asked, around a mouthful of donut that she had nicked on the way out, under Malachite's amused expression._

_Amy sighed and pinched her nose. It was true, she didn't have much experience in the way of boys, or men in this particular case, but she had been with the girls long enough to know when one sparked their fire. "Don't do this," Amy nearly begged to her._

"_Don't do what?"_

"_This is Malachite here; this is not some random boy from the arcade! He's a Negaverse general, and this is a bad idea, Serena."_

_Serena swallowed the last of her donut and started licking her fingers for the last traces of sugar. "I didn't even do anything. Besides, he's like, really old."_

"_Twenty-nine human years is not old. And you would've."_

_She shrugged. "But I didn't. And even if I did, perhaps Darien would finally move on."_

The end of the war had made Serena not only look over herself as a Scout, but she had taken every inch of her related life to the microscope, and hadn't liked what she saw. She hadn't seen much of Darien as he had started his internship at major hospitals, and Serena had finally admitted to the Scouts that she believed that she was moving on, that she believed she was only with him to fulfill a destiny that now looked like it may not even occur. But Darien had been shattered by their break-up, and from reports of Raye's who had suddenly been spending more time than usual with him, he was turning into a rather depressed individual, which was not at all becoming.

Amy just believed that two weeks between ditching Darien and then picking up Malachite was far too soon, not to mention the other problems with this idea – like he was one of their enemies, and like the fact that he was already in a relationship with someone that no one believed was quite sane.

And for a short time, Amy believed her fears unfounded, as Serena had not mentioned him at all for a good month over the summer, and appeared to have moved on very quickly or forgotten about him completely. That was until she'd spent the night at Serena's with the family gone, and a knock on the door which Amy answered, only to find Malachite standing on the doorstep.

"_Hi," Amy managed to master though her surprise._

"_Sailor Mercury."_

"_It's Amy."_

"_Amy, then... is Serena at home?" The cool, calm and collected Malachite was in stark contrast to the shock on Amy's face, and the sudden excitement on Serena's face as she popped up behind her, at the sound of his voice._

"_Hi..." Despite her annoyance, Amy couldn't help but smile a flicker of a smile at the shyness in her friend's voice, before watching the poor man being yanked inside the house. As she pushed him into the living room, Serena gave Amy a pleading look, causing Amy to roll her eyes and walk into the kitchen to give them privacy._

_For fifteen minutes,Amy had kept herself occupied, making two cups of cocca and finding a large platter of cheesecake in the fridge, and waited patiently at the table, listening to the soft tones coming from the next room, then wincing at the sudden squealing from Serena – if she had winced, Amy figured that Malachite had gone deaf. Then, as quickly as he had appeared, he had left, with a nod towards Amy before nearly being kicked out the door._

_Amy raised an eyebrow at Serena swinging into the kitchen, a bright smile on her face. The smile had falted momentarily at the expression on Amy's face, but it only lasted a moment when Amy had broken into a large grin at her friend – Serena's joy was infectious, after all._

Within days, the shit had hit the fan.

Malachite had not wanted Serena to know this information straight away, but through the gossip network of Malachite, to Nephrite, to Molly, to Serena, everyone learned that Malachite had dumped an extremely pissed-off Zoycite, who had wanted to march over to Serena's house and give her a piece of her mind, but Malachite had convinced her to take her abuse out on him instead – the black eyes had taken several weeks to heal.

And Zoycite was not the only angry person in Serena's life about this relationship; her parents, particulary her father, was furious about this revelation that his daughter was dating a much older man in his eyes – he'd never liked the six-year age difference between her and Darien, so the eleven-year age difference between her and Malachite was just unthinkable. He'd attempted to ban Serena from seeing Malachite while living under his roof, a plan that failed brilliantly as Serena had simply gathered her things and camped out at Amy's house instead.

The unfortunate Darien had found out in a most shocking manner – Serena's mother had advised him where she was, and so Darien had phoned Amy's, only for Malachite to answer the phone.

"_Don't answer my... never mind," Amy had sighed from the kitchen table with her study books, as Malachite had simply picked up the phone and answered as if it was his phone, as if he lived there and was expecting any calls._

"_This is Malachite... I live here, who might this be?"_

_Amy groaned and buried her face in her hands at the sudden brightening on Malachite's face, and the sudden muffled shouting from the other end of the phone._

"_Ah, now then Darien, there's no need for such vulgar language...well, I'm with Serena, and... like I said, I'm with... no, she's not here at the moment, but Amy – " Amy looked up at him in horror, quickly shaking her head at him, but Malachite failed to notice, " – is here... just a moment." Malachite handed the receiver to Amy, the smile on his face unreadable. "He'd like to speak you."_

_Amy sighed and pressed the receiver against her ear, with muttered thanks, as Malachite strolled out of the room. "Hi, Darien."_

"_What in the name of hell is that jackass doing there, and with Serena?!"_

Darien had just fallen from depression further towards suicidual tendenices with this news, but the girls took no notice of this, he'd get over it. But to Amy's near disgust, the girls had taken it worse than even he had, and ten years on, they still hadn't accepted the news.

It felt as if Amy was the only one to support the couple, outside of Molly and Nephrite, as it had turned into a flinging match of names that Amy was too shocked to remember clearly now, and this was even before Serena had entered the room. Lita and Mina said they could nearly understand the attraction, but what about Darien, and Raye declared that she was just sickened that their princess was sleeping with the enemy. Serena had informed them all that if they couldn't see her with Malachite, then they wouldn't be able to see her at all, and the calmness and unlikely sophiscation that Serena delivered this speech had frightened Amy.

And then the girls had the decision taken from them – Malachite had been offered a job in London (doing whatever it is that he does, as Serena put it; she'd never been interested enough in this aspect of him to ask), and Serena only saw advantages in going with him.

It wasn't like she was going to go to university, Serena argued with Amy, who thought it was a bad idea to move in with a man she'd only dated for a couple of months, let alone move overseas with him. Sure, Serena had earned enough marks to enter university, but she definitely had no interest in actually going; it had been too hard to get up and go to school in the mornings as it was. And in the way of family and friends, outside Amy, Nephrite and Molly, what did she truly have to stay for? A family that had thrown her out, and friends that refused to speak to her?

Despite the pain, Amy saw Serena's way of things, and with that she'd waved them off at the airport with tears for the friend she was physically losing, but excited also for the friend who waved goodbye with equal excitement out the plane's window, off on her way to a new life.

And it was a new life – Amy could clearly see that from the constant emails that popped up from her bunny friend, and phone calls to have girl-chats in the middle of the night, which Amy would answer tiredly but pleased to hear her voice; she couldn't be mad, she would expect no less than Serena to not consider the time in Japan when she rang, let alone the fact that Amy might be sleeping. Especially when she called with news of a wedding proposal, and would Amy please, please, _please _come to London as her bridesmaid?

Serena understood that Amy couldn't get the time off from the hospital, but Molly had gone, as had her family (despite everything, Amy knew that Serena's mother would not miss her daughter's wedding day for the world). Molly had returned with multiple rolls of film and classic stories, such as Serena tripping up the aisle in her wedding dress (causing the two Negaverse generals to snicker and Serena to erupt into tears and scream at them about how mean they were up the aisle), and Molly finding Serena in a cloakroom eating wedding cake before the meal had even started.

But it was the photos that made Amy really smile, and even for Lita and Mina to smile wistfully at them when Amy showed the girls, at the sight of Serena's pure happiness despite the wedding dramas. Amy understood by the bright, happy blue eyes in the photos that Serena had finally gained what she'd wanted when she'd discovered she was Sailor Moon – a chance to be a normal girl doing normal things, marrying for love rather than for predetermined destiny to save a world. But Amy was still disappointed in her friends, even when Serena's happiness was clear to see – they still disliked the fact that their leader had ran away with an old enemy, and Raye, after these years, was still convinced that Serena would one day awaken besides a youma.

For lack of better words, Amy believed that they were acting rather childish, and perhaps fuelled by more than a tinge of jealously – Mina and Lita were hopping from bar to bar, hoping to find 'the one' who had to meet their specific requirements without the open, forgiving heart Serena held, and Raye's friendship with Chad had never progessed exactly past that stage, and any guy she liked romantically had a tendency to become fearful of her 'love' and went sprinting for the hills.

And Amy was certain that their childish behaviour and jealous emotions had controlled when they had turned on her, proclaiming that they couldn't believe how uncharacteristic it was of Amy to have fallen pregnant from a one night stand, as if it was cruel and dishonest of Amy to do anything outside of what they believed her to be.

She would've felt truly alone if it weren't for her bubble-headed friend, who she was able to share their joys together of both their pregnancies, and while not being able to share the births of their daughters in person being only days apart, they exchanged photos of themselves – Serena and Celia, Amy and Claire – via camera phones.

But then the joyous email that popped up in her inbox – _We're coming home!_

As the daughters turned three, Serena had decided that she wanted to raise Celia near her own family, and Malachite had talked his work into transferring him to Tokyo. To Amy's joy, they had returned within weeks (with Serena pushing through people in customs to sprint uneventfully towards her, nearly knocking Amy off her feet) and moved in right across the street, in the sprawling house that Amy had found for them, and she was especially joyful to greet her dear, unassuming friend in person, pleased to find that she was still the sweet, bubbly girl that had left her behind in Japan.

*

The girls watched eagerly from in front of the kindergarten, awaiting the black BMW with silver edging that glided towards them.

Serena was practically jumping from foot to foot in impatience. "Can't he hurry up? I'm hungry..." she wailed. Amy looked at her in surprise.

"Why would he be bringing food with him?"

Serena froze. "Hadn't thought of that... " she pouted. "That's not fair, Amy."

Amy sighed. For all the growing up Serena had claimed to have done over the years, sometimes Amy was very hardpressed to find it. "Honestly, if you'd learnt to drive, we'd already be there by now."

When Serena pouted, she sure could keep it up for a long time. "You know I tried; he won't let me."

She could hardly blame Malachite; he'd only just gotten his car back from the shop. It had been highly amusing for herself, Molly, Nephrite and the girls, watching Malachite attempting to teach Serena to drive – the sudden burst axceleration, then the slamming of the brakes, then another sudden burst of axceleration, then another slamming of the brakes, all the way along the quiet stretch of park road, and the constant explanation from Serena that it was the cute cat on the side of the road that had distracted her and had _forced _her to smash Malachite's expensive car head-on into a tree – it wasn't her fault, it was the cat's.

Needless to say, Malachite would be damned before he'd let Serena touch the steering wheel again. But she was allowed to bang her fists against the glass of the driver's window once the car had cruised to a stop, demanding that he roll down the window.

"Hungry."

"Hello yourself," he replied, before reaching and picking up a bag of sugar-coated donuts from the seat beside him, causing Serena to break into ear-splitting squeals and attempt to dive into the car through the window to get to the food. "Get in the car first, through your own door!"

*

Amy could see Raye's frustrated face as the five made their way up the stairs to the temple, staring down over them through the crowds that had flocked up, through the cold winter afternoon. Raye had eagerly invited Amy and Claire to the temple for the evening festivities, but had frowned when Amy responded that she would be coming with Serena and her family. Raye hadn't seen Serena in person in several years now, but Amy was disappointed to note that in her case, absence had not made the heart grow fonder.

Despite herself, Raye wrapped her arms around Amy in a warm embrace, and kissed Claire gently on the head, before turning to face Serena. Amy could feel Raye's level of being unimpressed by Serena's choice of outfit – the fluffy white beanie with pompoms, the large pink scraf with white bunnies all over it wrapped around her neck and up over her nose, with the matching long jacket.

"Hi, Raye," Serena's voice came muffled, the tone of voice sounding uncertain but not willing to embarrass herself.

"Serena," Raye returned, with a coldness that could cut through the already chilly air. Raye's eyes flickered over Malachite, whom she failed to greet altogether (though Amy had spotted several women who did want to greet him, and she had to admit, he did cut a rather imposing and handsome with the height, the perfectly brushed straight silver hair, the woolen blue scraf and the crisp black suit), and then fallen onto the small figure of Celia, who had gained none of her father's height and was dressed in a miniature outfit of her mother's. "And you must be Celia," she greeted warmly, crouching down to her height. "Hi, sweetheart."

To everyone's surprise, Celia stared at Raye for seconds before turning away and hugging her father's leg, pressing her face against his knee. There was an awkward pause as Raye stood back up and the other three adults glanced at each other. "She's rather shy," Amy finally spoke up, knowing that this was not Celia's normal, sunny behaviour towards strangers.

"Can we go see the ducks? I saw them in the lake on the way," Claire suddenly piped up, feeling the tension and deciding to break it.

"I'll take them; come, girls," Malachite agreed, gently guiding the young girls away, Celia clutching his fingers, staring behind at Raye with an unreadable expression in her eyes.

Amy and Serena excused themselves and slowly walked through the crowds towards the table of charms for sale, Serena pulling the scraf down from around her face as they went. "You did tell her that we were coming, yes?" she asked her friend, her voice merely curious and holding no hint of accusation.

"Of course," Amy replied, her own voice unexpectedly shocked. "I understand how she feels, but I didn't expect her to be so rude in public."

"I did," Serena said simply, handing over a small amount of money over to the young temple helper and receiving a charm in return. "But she can carry on like that if she wishes, I don't have to see her." She ripped upon the envelope, then squealed at the charm inside, thrusting it in Amy's face with sudden giddiness. "A fertility charm!"

Amy frowned in confusion. "A fertility charm... Serena, you don't need... no, you're not..." her voice trailed off at the bright smile suddenly crossing Serena's face.

Serena nodded happily in the direction of the lake, and started jumping up and down. "He doesn't know yet; I know that he thinks he's too old for another child. It's only been a couple of weeks, but it feels the same as when I was with Celia and I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and will you come with me?" she suddenly finished, nearly stopping in mid-jump.

Amy felt the smile on her face meet Serena's. She had a shift tomorrow, but to hell with work she figured, as Amy flung her arms around her. "Of course I will!" she cheered, before both of them started jumping up and down, accidentally whacking into the charms table and send envelopes flying everywhere. They paused for a moment, watching the envelopes flutter everywhere to the ground, then began jumping again.

And to hell also, with all the tuttering people around them, watching their behaviour. The other people had had the chance to be care-free children.

Now it was theirs.

_Fin_


End file.
